Donald Trump’s attorneys were spotted at the offices of the Department of Justice on Monday, where they reportedly begged prosecutors investigating the former president’s hoarding of classified documents not to charge him. The New York Times reported later in the day that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation, was in attendance.
The last-minute scramble to mollify investigators is unsurprising. Trump is expected to be charged in the probe, with Rolling Stone reporting in May that his attorneys have been preparing him to face yet another criminal indictment.
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Trump gave credence to the speculation hours after the meeting concluded through an unrestrained, all-caps rant on Truth Social. “HOW CAN DOJ POSSIBLY CHARGE ME, WHO DID NOTHING WRONG, WHEN NO OTHER PRESIDENT’S WERE CHARGED, WHEN JOE BIDEN WON’T BE CHARGED FOR ANYTHING,” Trump railed. “ONLY TRUMP – THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
Trump also incorrectly claimed that President Biden had kept “1850 BOXES [of documents]. MUCH OF IT CLASSIFIED.” While a relatively small number of documents were found at several of Biden’s residences and offices, the current president has not gotten off scot-free. In January, Attorney General Merrick Garland named Robert Hur, a Trump-appointed former federal prosecutor, as special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of documents.
The current president proactively moved to hand over any documents in his possession, but Trump’s dealings with authorities has been much more adversarial. After months of pleading from the National Archives, a subpoena, and an FBI search, federal authorities recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago since Trump’s departure from office. Trump claimed he had unilateral authority to telepathically declassify documents at-will, and his legal team went so far as to petition the Supreme Court to prevent investigators from reviewing the material.
Trump claimed he declassified everything he took from the White House, but news broke last week that the DOJ had recovered a 2021 recording of Trump admitting to having kept a “SECRET” level classified document allegedly containing a proposed attack plan against Iran, which he knew he couldn’t simply declassify. Trump’s attorneys have since claimed no such document is in Trump’s possession.
During a Fox News town hall event last Thursday, Trump responded to a question about the recording by claiming that he didn’t know anything about it. “All I know is this: everything I did was right,” he said.
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